Patents on "interfaces" are only useful if the interface is a
standard, de-facto or otherwise. The W3C basically defines
interfaces. Typically, there are many ways to do an "interface".
The W3C should steer its interface designs around patents, not
design them in.
Nothing in the "RAND" proposal provides any justification for this
action. There is no new patented technology essential to the
functioning of the World Wide Web. Historically, the GIF
file compression problem was the only significant collision
between patents and widely used W3C interfaces, and that caused
more trouble than it was worth.
As to the proposal itself, the requirement that members are
not required to conduct a search of their patent portfolios is
very suspicious. That encourages misdirection by participants
in W3C meetings. Disclosure must be enforceable against corporate
members, not the individual participants.
John Nagle
Animats
999 Woodland Avenue
Menlo Park, CA 94025